Sliding door for motor-vehicles.



A. F. MASURY. suome DOOR FOR MOTOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 16. I915.

Patented Apr. 25, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

W/T/VESSES W A. F. MASURYJ SLIDING DOOR FOR MOTOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION man FEB. 16, I915.

Patented Apr; 25, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- ALFRED F1. IVIASURY, 015 NEW YORK, N. $5., ASSIGNOR T0 INTERNATIONAL MOTOR CQMJPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

SLIDING DOOR FOR MOTOR-VEHICLES.

Application filed February 16, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

.Be it known that l, ALFRED F. MASURY,

a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan of the city of New York, in the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sliding Doors for Motor-Vehicles, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

This invention relates to sliding doors for motor vehicles and is illustrated herein as embodied in doors for motor trucks and commercial cars in which it will find an especially large range of usefulness.

it will be appreciated that where motor vehicles are being stopped constantly and the occupant or occupants alight at each stoppage, it is desirable to have a door which can be opened readily and which, when opened, will not extend outwardly from the side face of the vehicle body and interfere with passers-by or vehicles. Again, it is often the practice, especially in the use of motor trucks or commercial vehicles, for the driver to move the car from one stopping place to another without closing the door.' l v here the door is hinged, it will usually remain fully opened and be a source of danger besides exposing the vehicle itself to injury by being struck.

Aside from the considerations above mentioned, which make it especially desirable to provide automobiles with sliding doors instead of hinged doors, as now commonly used the present invention seeks to improve the appearance of vehicle bodies by constructing the improved doors .with such relation to the body as to permit the doors to be slid to an opened position in which they are entirely concealed. Contrariwise they may be slid from their concealed position to closed position and form in general appearance a continuation of the side walls of the vehicle body. By providing suitable means for maintaining the improved doors in either opened or closed positions the vehicle body may be converted, in elfect,from the usual open body type to what is generally termed the fore-do-or type. Changing conditions of use and Weather make it desirable to so convert the body of a car and for this reason the improved doors commend themselves to general use.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 25, 1916.

Serial No. 8,465.

Further objects of the invention have to do more particularly with certain details of construction whereby the improved doors may be mounted in fixed relation to the wall chambers into which they may be slid and with the supporting tracks for the doors.

The invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a fragmentary view in side elevation of a part of the body of a truck constructed with the popular stream line efi'ect and showing a horizontally slidable door. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view in plan of a portion of the body illustrated in Fig. 1, a part of the vehicle body and of the im proved door being broken away to show certain details of construction and the step of the vehicle being omitted. Fig. 3 is a sectional view through the door and vehicle body, taken on the plane indicated by the line of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 4a is a fragmentary view in side elevation of a part of the body of a truck showing a vertically slidable door. Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view in horizontal section, taken on the plane indicated by the line 55 of Fig. 4 and looking in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 6 is a sectional view through the door, shown in Fig. 4c and taken on the plane indicated by the line 66 of that figure and looking in the direction of the arrows.

While this invention is not to be limited to the character of the body of the vehicle, present day practice in the matter of construction of such bodies lends itself to the mounting and use of the improved doors with such bodies. The invention will first be described with reference to a horizontally slidable door. As indicated in Fig. 2, it will be evident that the wall a, of the vehicle body, indicated generally at b, is re- (-essed or chambered throughout its length and height along that section which incloses the seat 0 andforms in part the arms and back of such seat. In this chambered portion of the wall a and along the bottom thereof may be fastened, as through bolts 0!, a half round piece of metal 6, the length of which maybe determined by the range of movement of the improved door 7", it being, evident that the half round when extendedg'; beyond the front edge a of the wall a, will constitute a sill of. attractive appearance which may be exposed to view, more or less, when the door is-opened. On the half round 6, or track, may rest a channel piece 9, the flanges of which may embrace the track and cooperate therewith and preserve the alinement of the door when the latter is slid. The door f rests on and is secured to the channel piece 9 and may carry another channel piece it which is so formed and positioned as to embrace the channel piece 9 and the underside of the track 6 and thereby prevent the channel piece 9 and the door f from being lifted off of,:..or jumping from, the track. The devices thus far described will maintain the lower edge of the door f in fixed relation to the half round 6 and will afford a positive guide and retaining means therefor so that the door during its travel from opened position to closed position will positively be held out of engagement with the chambered walls a of the vehicle body 6. This construction is ofimportance as it is obviously necessary to prevent the door from scraping against the walls or any other fixed surfaces, if the attractive appearance of the door is to be preserved.

Other devices of an improved character are provided at the upper portion of the door to maintain the upper edge thereof in corresponding relation to the chambered walls a of the vehicle body I). These devices, in the illustrated embodiment, include a guide rail is, extending substantially longitudinally of the chambered space in the wall a. and disposed at theupper portion of said space, and flanged, as at k, to afford a convenient securing means, whereby it may be fastened, as by bolts Z, to the inner face of the chambered walls. This rail is, is, of course, of less-length than the space in which it is disposed so that it does not project beyond the edge a of the Wall a. Cooperating with the rail are opposed springs m fastened to the door f, the latter being channeled at its upper edge to form a sightly face f, and being reversely bent on itself as at f to afford a support for one ofthe springs m, as appears clearly in Fig. 3. The springs m embrace the guide rail is with a snug frictional engagement so that the door f is held against accidental movement when in any position and is yieldingly guided in its travel from opened to closed position. In this Way, the door is held against contact with the other surfaces which might mar it, in a manner correponding to that described with respect to the track 6 and associated devices at the lower edge of the door.

The door may be provided at its front edge, with a spring-pressed pivotal latch I n to hold the door positively in closed position, provided with an exposed handle 11.

for convenient manual manipulation. This handle 11. not only permits the latch to be lifted, but also affords convenient means for sliding the door.

For convenience in this description, the wall a of thevehicle body has been referred to as being chambered but it will be evident from Fig. 3 that the chamber formed at this section of the body is constituted in part by the exposed wall proper of the body 6 and, in part, by the inner wall or support 0 of the seat section 0. The relation of the vehicle wall proper and the wall 0 of the seat need not be described in detail here as it is evident that the invention is not to be limited to such details. The chambered space into which the improved door f is adapted to slide may be formed in a variety of other ways.

Referring now to the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 46, it will be seen that the vertically slidable door F is guided at each vertical edge by channeled tracks E, preferably mounted in such relation to the body a of the vehicle as to form, in appearance, a part thereof. The door may be retained in its raised position conveniently by a sliding bolt N mounted within the floor A and adapted to be retracted as through a rocking lever 0, one arm of which is operatively engaged by a pedal rod p, which the operator may conveniently press to retract the latch and permit the door to be slid downwardly to opened position. The latch N may be retained in raised position partly by friction and partly by the pressure of a suitable spring 0' operatively engaging the rocking lever 0. It will be evident that the devices for retaining the door in position may be varied within wide ranges. In this -embodiment of the invention, advantage may be taken of the fact that the body A of trucks often continues to an appreciable distance below the sill G of the door, to conceal the door when it is lowered. As shown in Fig. 6, tracks E continue downwardly to a slight distance beyond the sill of the door and have mounted in alinement therewith the usual supporting arms or brackets q for the step 1'. The proximate faces of the brackets (7 may be grooved, as at 1, to form with the respective channels 6, a continuous guide-way or track for the door F. The lower ends of these guide-ways q in the steps may terminate in shoulders Q2 on which the door F may rest when in its lowered position. For convenience in raising or lowering the doorF, it may have formed adjacent its upper edge a'handhold F. It is to be understood that in this embodiment of the invention other guide-ways than those illustrated may be provided and when the body A of the vehicle does not extend downwardly, the door may be exposed to view meorao when it is lowered. Such details of construction may be altered when necessary.

The advantages to be derived from the use of a door of the improved character have been indicated in the preamble to this specification and need not be dwelt on at length here although it is important in the consideration of the description of the door and the many details of construction referred to therein, to consider the function of each of these details with respect to the many advantages sought to be realized.

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination with the body of a motor vehicle having a chambered space in its walls, a sliding door movable from opened position within said space to closed position, and having a double walled section, a track extending from Within the space in the walls across the door space, devices carried on the lower portion of the door for engaging said track and supporting and guiding the door, a guide for the upper edge of the door mounted in the wall space and extending into the double walled section, and means carried by the door on the inner faces of the walls and cooperating with the guide.

2. In combination with the body of" a motor vehicle having a chambered space in its walls, a sliding door movable from opened position within said space to closed position, a half round bar extending from within the space in the walls across the door space, a channel secured to the lower edge of the door and resting on and embracing partially the half round, means secured to the door and engaging loosely the underside of the half round to maintain the door on the half round, a guide rail supported on the walls of the vehicle body and extending longitudinally of the chambered space, and springs carried by the door and engaging the guide, the door being formed with a reverse bend at its upper edge to support the springs in opposed positions.

This specification signed and witnessed this first day of February, A. D. 1915.

. ALFRED F. MASURY. Signed in the presence o;t

ELLA J Kano-ER, VVORTHINGTON CAMPBELL.

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